"The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism — ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. ”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt

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Monday, November 15, 2004

Frank Rich Nails It

I sent to my email list Frank Rich's Sunday NYT piece regarding the fact that Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, home of the Red-staters source for news, is ALSO the source for lots and lots of the type of programming that "moral values" voters object to rather strenuously.

Here's an excerpt:

If anyone is laughing all the way to the bank this election year, it must be the undisputed king of the red cultural elite, Rupert Murdoch. Fox News is a rising profit center within his News Corporation, and each red-state dollar that it makes can be plowed back into the rest of Fox's very blue entertainment portfolio. The Murdoch cultural stable includes recent books like Jenna Jameson's "How to Make Love Like a Porn Star" and the Vivid Girls' "How to Have a XXX Sex Life," which have both been synergistically, even joyously, promoted on Fox News by willing hosts like Rita Cosby and, needless to say, Mr. O'Reilly. There are "real fun parts and exciting parts," said Ms. Cosby to Ms. Jameson on Fox News's "Big Story Weekend," an encounter broadcast on Saturday at 9 p.m., assuring its maximum exposure to unsupervised kids.

8 comments:

one has to wonder if the views of frank rich are truly meaningful when his past "insights" include the following movie review:

"With its laborious buildup to its orgasmic spurtings of blood and other bodily fluids, Mr. Gibson’s film is constructed like nothing so much as a porn movie, replete with slo-mo climaxes and pounding music for the money shots. Of all the ‘Passion’ critics, no one has nailed its artistic vision more precisely than Christopher Hitchens, who ... called it a homoerotic ‘exercise in lurid masochism’ for those who ‘like seeing handsome young men stripped and flayed alive over a long period of time.". . .

yeah, to frank rich the "Passion of the Christ" is little different than gay porno classics such as "Thar He Blows". of course, as james carville said on this weeks "Meet the Press "The only politician in America I know with a mandate is (New Jersey Governor) Jim McGreevey, Tim." hhhhmmmmmmm. . .

the "morals" issue of this election is somewhat misleading. as noted by columnist charles krauthammer, "The way the question was set up, moral values were sure to be ranked disproportionately high. Why? Because it was a multiple-choice question, and moral values cover a group of issues, while all the other choices were individual issues. Chop up the alternatives finely enough, and moral values are sure to get a bare plurality over the others. . .the exit poll is just a single poll. We had dozens of polls in the run-up to the election that showed that the chief concerns were the war on terrorism, the war in Iraq and the economy."

democrats wondering "what happened" to them in the last several elections should consider the possibilty that there are those on the left with high visibility who are unwittingly alienating large constituencies. . .people like frank rich.

it doesn't help the democratic party when high profile celebrities such as janeane garafalo makes statements such as "Our country is founded on a sham: our forefathers were slave-owning rich white guys who wanted it their way. So when I see the American flag, I go, 'Oh my God, you're insulting me.' That you can have a gay parade on Christopher Street in New York, with naked men and women on a float cheering, 'We're here, we're queer!' -- that's what makes my heart swell. Not the flag, but a gay naked man or woman burning the flag. I get choked up with pride."

you have to wonder how many votes comments like that cost the party. you can be a liberal and still be a patriotic american...you can be anti-war and still be a patriotic american...but how should americans interprept comments like "So when I see the American flag, I go, 'Oh my God, you're insulting me.'?

many on the left routinely mock and bash pro-life christians and conservatives as being intolerant, backwards, hatefilled, homophobic, hypocrites...and then wonder why they can't get the votes of those very people.

I'm not sure if any amount of slick marketing can cover the alienating "message" that some people simply considered intelectually and morally inferior because of their religious beliefs or that they're being "insulting" because they like to fly the american flag.

alienating large groups of voters is no way to win elections!

as noted in Buddhist teaching "hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful" (Udana-Varga 5:18)

frank rich could learn from that simple "golden rule", which is found in every major religion and not just the one he seems to take joy in belittling.

anywho, this is a great blogsite oh curmudgeon of wit and wisdom! live long and prosper leftwingcracker!

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